Redfort Furniture
Redfort Furniture, 111 Redchurch Street, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London E2, 2006 • Nice Eine letter T, long since gone, although the shops were still boarded up ad graffiti-laden in […]
W.E. Price
W.E. Price, 25-27 High Street, Knighton, Powys, Wales, 2017 • Charming cluster of blue-and-white homewares shops in the steep town centre.
J.E. Bailey
J.E. Bailey, 67 Aston Street, Wem, Shropshire, 2017 • I started going to places in Shropshire just because of the weird names – Clun, Wem, New Invention (a real if […]
Loudon Upholstery
Loudon Upholstery, Circa 15 George Street, Merchant City, Glasgow G1, 2012 • Colourful dereliction in the city centre, in a row that was demolished circa 2014. There was a ghost […]
Bensons for Beds
Bensons for Beds, 79-80 Upper Mall, County Mall, Crawley, West Sussex, 2002 • New town modernism beset by pigeons (note hexagonal tiles beneath the netting).
Star Furnishing
Star Furnishing, 165-175 Stoke Newington Road, Borough of Hackney, London N16, 2002 • Mid-century signage on a vast furniture emporium that wouldn’t quite fit in my 2002 digital camera’s lens. […]
Roomes
Roomes, 41-49 Station Road, Upminster, Borough of Havering, London RM14, 2016 • Immense deco-tiled store still in operation. The homeware firm Roomes was founded in 1888 this is their 1927 branch […]
Walmsley’s Furniture Superstore (ex)
Walmsley’s Furniture Superstore (ex), 50-51 Snow Hill, Wolverhampton WV1, 2016 • Not likely to trouble Ikea.
Kingstone
Kingstone, 66-67 Belgrave Gate, Leicester LE1, 2016 • Modernist grade II listed 1937 furniture store with pink Vitrolite stripes, designed by Australian architect and glass fan Raymond McGrath. It’s only the second-known […]
Cabinet Benches
Cabinet Benches, side of 2 Hoxton Street, London N1, 2006 • I have no idea what cabinet benches are, but they probably don’t make them any more. The ghost sign is still […]
Funky Rooms
Funky Rooms, 499 Hackney Road, Borough of Hackney, London E2, 2006 • Grimly quaint concrete facade, which I originally thought housed a nightclub, but a commenter tells me was a furniture shop. […]
Chapel Furnitures
Chapel Furnitures, 4 Browning Street, Walworth, Borough of Southwark, London SE17, 2002 • Giant hand sign on charming chapel for the unusually-pluralised Chapel Furnitures (maybe the singular version’s web domain had […]
Englishman’s Castle
Englishman’s Castle, 9-17 Church Street, Leatherhead, Surrey, 2003 • Purveyor of Surrey-style furnishings for over 50 years, and still there, albeit with updated logo. There’s a vid of the interior […]
I.B.S. Merseyside Ltd
I.B.S. Merseyside Ltd, 72 Waterloo Road (between Regent Street and Porter Street), Liverpool L3, 2008 • Interesting hand lettering with Ws like upside-down Ms and an 18th-century look. Google reckons […]
Surrey Foam
Surrey Foam, 54 Croydon Road, Caterham, Surrey, 2001 • Surrey denizens are so proud of their county they even name foam shops after it.
Grimwade Services
Grimwade Services, 262a Brixton Hill, Borough of Lambeth, London SW2, 2002 • Another Dickensian name from old Lambeth. I doubt there was much demand for ‘president’ signs.
Fagin’s House Clearance
Fagin’s House Clearance, 105 Lower Marsh, Borough of Lambeth, London SE1, 2001 • Dickensian name and address for a Dickensian line of work. Became clothes shop Valerio.
L.W. Haggis
L.W. Haggis, 171 Brighton Road, South Croydon, Borough of Croydon, London CR2, 2003 • What a brilliant name! Although it looks like someone chopped the bottom of their sign off. […]
Furniture Arkade
Furniture Arkade, 320 Lewisham High Street, Borough of Lewisham, London SE13, 2010 • Your one-stop spot for Bed’s, Ward Robe and Sofa. I think that’s Michael Jackson peeking out from the rug, […]
Burton (Antique Warehouse)
Burton (Antique Warehouse), 9-14 Depford Broadway, Borough of Lewisham, London SE8, 2002 • This grille, which I spotted at ground level, alerted me to photograph the shop above it, but if […]
D&T Upholstery Repair
D&T Upholstery Repair, 436 West Green Road, Borough of Haringey, London N15, 2014 • Imaginative conversion of a run-down shop front near yesterday’s Tap & Die. According to the internet, DT […]
Mercury Discount, Cambridge Heath Appliances
Mercury Discount, Cambridge Heath Appliances, 274-278 Cambridge Heath Road, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London E2, 2002 (top two) & 2006 • Beautiful signwiting, caught on its way out. Now a […]
Roy’s Furnishers
Roy’s Furnishers, 147 Rye Lane, Borough of Southwark, London SE15, 2010 • More Peckham ruination: a superannuated sign somewhat at odds with the fashion emporium within. By 2012 it was […]
Tudor Williams
Tudor Williams, 94-98 High Street, Dorking, Surrey, 2008 • Another nice doorstep with a dull shopfront attached; these op-art stripes look rather art deco.
Bargain Suites
Bargain Suites, 433 Anlaby Road, Kingston upon Hull, 2013 • Trad sign writing on a crumbling Victorian terrace opposite Hull’s KC Stadium. Since demolished.
Cash Supply Stores, Furniture
Cash Supply Stores, Furniture, ghost signs behind 23 Clapham High Street, Clapham North, Borough of Lambeth, London SW4, 2002 • More ghost signs, next to yesterday’s music roll emporium. By the […]
Modern Furniture
Modern Furniture (Ego & Id Ltd.), 43 Rowlands Road, Worthing, West Sussex, 2004 • Multilayered palimpsest of a ghost sign that’s still there, though the shop beneath has changed into The […]
Cigarettes Confectionery Tobacco
Cigarettes Confectionery Tobacco, 6 High Street, Herne Bay, Kent, 2002 • Old sign briefly revealed during redevelopment into flats – you’d never know there’d been a shop there now.
Beddy Buyz Ltd
Beddy Buyz Ltd, 197-199 East Street, Borough of Southwark, London SE17, 2002 • It might look like a closed-down ruin, but it’s still going strong. Note tiny “snores” emerging from the […]
Firmback Works
Firmback Works, 43 Andrews Road, Cambridge Heath, Borough of Hackney, London E8, 2003 • Splendidly named thanks to its past housing a manufacturer of traditional chairs. Frontage still intact in 2012.
Shopfront Elegy 